Dr Kildare (NBC 1961-1966, Richard Chamberlain, Raymond Massey)

July 20, 2016

Based on a long running and popular movie series of the 1940’s (that starred Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore) Dr Kildare helped propel Richard Chamberlain to stardom. The show, a medical drama obviously, followed Dr James Kildare as he rose from a fresh faced intern to (by season three) a resident doctor at Blair General Hospital.

Dr Kildare had a mentor helping him along his way in the form of the often cantankerous Dr Leonard Gillespie. Popular with the female viewing public who found Kildare very “swoonsome” the show moved from hour long episodes to twice weekly half hour ones during the 1965-66 season giving the show more of a soapy feel as stories were often now carried over several episodes.

There was a brief syndicated revival in 1972 called Young Dr Kildare with Mark Jenkins as Kildare and Gary Merrill as Gillespie.